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Area stores wll be checked for synthetic marijuana

Local authorities will soon double-check store shelves to ensure that illegal synthetic cannabinoids, recently upgraded to a Schedule I drug in Georgia, aren’t available.

Since the Georgia Board of Pharmacy issued an emergency designation Monday declaring synthetic cannabinoids a Schedule I drug — a classification that marks them as dangerous as cocaine and crystal meth — local law-enforcement officials say they’ll visit stores to make sure the drug isn’t being sold.

Synthetic cannabinoids, like “Spice” or “K2,” often are sold as incense and reportedly give smokers a high similar to marijuana, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Synthetic cannabinoid users also report rapid heart rates, vomiting, hallucinations and paranoia after smoking the drug, but specific studies about how chemicals in synthetic marijuana effect the body and brain aren’t available, according to NIDA.

Locally, the Athens-Clarke County Police Department and the Northeast Georgia Regional Drug Task Force, a group of Athens-area law enforcement agencies, are checking stores to determine whether any might be selling synthetic cannabinoids, according to Athens-Clarke police Lt. Keith Morris.

“We’re going to try to be as comprehensive as we can and check as many places as we can,” Morris said.

Many stores stopped selling synthetic cannabinoids months ago because of laws banning the substances, and as information about the drug’s sometimes deadly effects reached a national audience, Morris said.

“I think it turned out to be a little more than what people thought it was,” he said.

State lawmakers banned the drug in 2010, but manufacturers changed chemical compounds to continue marketing the drug. This year, legislators approved a bill with more comprehensive language that covered new chemical compounds.

Elsewhere in the area, Barrow County deputies have found a few people who smoked synthetic marijuana in the past, but not many, said Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith.

“Anyone who takes it, there’s a serious potential for death or bodily harm,” he said.

Many stores cleared their shelves after state lawmakers made it clear the drug was illegal, Smith said.

Barrow County deputies likely will check for the drug before the upcoming Fourth of July weekend, though they probably won’t find any contraband, he said.

“A majority of our stores, we’ve never had an issue,” Smith said.

Also locally, Oconee County deputies checked every convenience store in the county Tuesday night, and didn’t find any sign of the drug, said Oconee County Chief Deputy Lee Weems.